Clinical Dentistry Case Study

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By the time members of your dental team will have achieved their qualification and applied for registration to work with you in practice, a period of approved training will have been completed and sufficient clinical experience will have been gained thus ensuring the necessary procedures and protective measures were learned (quite literally) to a degree that ensures those risks inherent in clinical dentistry will have been minimized to an acceptable level. Nevertheless with years of practice once more, through a process of risk-normalization the chances of an inoculation injury will begin to rise again. One way to reduce this problem is by practicing dentistry that is minimally invasive and so the risks can be reined in once more. Even if this…show more content…
One confidential survey in a UK hospital reported that over one third (38%) of the respondents had reported such an injury in the previous year, with nearly three quarters (74%) reporting an injury in their careers to date, yet barely over half (51%) actually reported such events! 2 Of considerable interest, from this study is that nurses were more likely to report their injuries than doctors despite their having a lower risk profile in this regard. The results of this UK study are strongly suggestive of a culture of silence with respect to such injuries (in the NHS)2. One reason for such a response to this problem could be from the perceived consequential risks to health with the financial implications that follow which would seem to subordinate the ethical responsibilities to report such…show more content…
If such a risk is multiplied by the number of dentists working in your clinic, the potential for exposure to those pathogens being carried by the hundreds of patients who come into a close and an almost intimate contact with your receptionists as they pass through the dental clinic is quite considerable. To this risk we can add another hazard presented to the administration and reception staff as they are frequently compelled to pick up tissues and swabs, most often contaminated, blood stained and simply discarded by patients in the reception and public areas of the dental clinic after their treatment is completed. Despite all of these risks, reception staff, more often than not are seldom registered, accountable, protected or immunized from such hazards inherent in their work and when the true extent of what they are exposed to and the events they have to endure are critically considered they could so often be truly under rated and under appreciated by other dental team members. In many respects and for many reasons their registration with the GDC is long
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